Monthly Archives: December 2008

Well, I got a DMCA takedown notice for the Beach Boys discography and a Can album, so I’m gonna see what I can do about working around those in the future. If you know the proper channels you can ask me for the links to the albums. If not, tough luck.

Anyway, I know this isn’t “hip” in the pitchfork sense, but here’s an unstoppable Faith No More show from 1995 -Ian!

The title is intended in an ironic way, as illustrated not only by the cover — a grim parody of late-’40s/early-’50s advertising imagery depicting white versus black social reality — but the grim yet utterly catchy and haunting opening number, “Billy Jack.” A song about gun violence that was years ahead of its time, it’s scored to an incisive horn arrangement by Richard Tufo. “When Seasons Change” is a beautifully wrought account of the miseries of urban life that contains elements of both gospel and contemporary soul. The album’s one big song, “So in Love,” which made number 67 on the pop charts but was a Top Ten soul hit, is only the prettiest of a string of exquisite tracks on the album, including “Blue Monday People” and “Jesus” and the soaring finale, “Love to the People,” broken up by the harder-edged “Hard Times.” The album doesn’t really have as clearly delineated a body of songs as Mayfield’s earlier topical releases, but it’s in the same league with his other work of the period and represents him near his prime as a composer.

In 1988, David Byrne collaborated with Robert Wilson on a “theatre piece” called The Forest that premiered in Berlin. (Byrne previously had worked with Wilson on The CIVIL warS, resulting in his album Music for “The Knee Plays.”) Byrne’s orchestral score served as the basis for this more extended version, released three years later on his Luaka Bop label. The music is stately, near-classical, and like none of his other recordings except his Academy Award-winning music for The Last Emperor. Byrne always was an eclectic, and in a purely musical environment (there are a few stray lyrics, but nothing to speak of), he is free to move from the European classical tradition to those of Japan and the Middle East, among other places. Depending upon your point of view, the result is either a pleasant travelogue or a mess. Or maybe both.